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The Case of the Palestinian Refugees

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The Case of the Palestinian Refugees Psychology Research, ISSN 2159-5542 October 2014, Vol. 4, No. 10, 808-822 D DAVID PUBLISHING A Refugee as a Status Symbol: The Case of the Palestinian Refugees Nitza Nachmias Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel The refugee problem has existed for centuries and has created great suffering for both refugees and for those who have tried to assist them. There are an estimated 11-12 million refugees and about 30 million internally displaced persons in the world today, and approximately 70% of them are in Africa and the Middle East1. The most protracted and complicated refugee situation is the case of the Palestinians who ceased to be stateless refugees decades ago but insisted on being identified as “refugees”. The Palestinians transfer the refugee identity from one generation to the next, as a status symbol and an honored identity. In fact, the descendants of the 800,000 Palestinians, who fled their homes in Palestine in 1948, have long been settled in the countries of their residence, but they still identify themselves as “Palestinian refugees” and they carry a refugee Id card as an honorary membership card. From early childhood, Palestinian children are socialized to adopt the identity of “refugees”, and idealizing of returning to the homeland of their distant ancestors. The have developed a self-concept, self-regard, and self-identity based on the refugee-narrative. They feel that giving up the refugee identity could lead to the elimination of the Palestinian identity and nationality. Keywords: refugee, Palestinan refugees, refugee identity, UNRWA (United Nations Work and Relief Agency for the Palestinian refugees), stateless narrative Introduction “We see ourselves radically differently in different contexts. Everyone struggles with that existential plum, who am I?” Walt Whitman The refugee problem has existed for centuries, and has created great suffering for both refugees and those who have tried to assist them. No region or continent is free of refugees—people caught between danger at home and loss of identity in a strange land. Feelings of fear of persecution, harassment, and oppression have led millions to flee their homes and seek safety in strange societies. The stark images of tens of thousands of people fleeing terror and murder inflicted by their own government because of their ethnic, religious, or political affiliation have been haunting the international community for over a century. Where there is no state authority to provide protection against such atrocities, the international community becomes essential. After WWI, in the wake of the massive refugee problem, the League of Nations entrusted the protection of the refugees to the International Red Cross. Following WWII, the new UN (United Nations) system created a global refugee protection regime, through the establishment of UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Nitza Nachmias, Ph.D., professor, MA program on Conflict Resolution, Faculty of Social Science, Tel Aviv University. 1UNHCR publications, 2013. A REFUGEE AS A STATUS SYMBOL: THE CASE OF THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEES 809 Refugees). Some of the largest refugee migrations in the 20th century occurred after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when approximately 1.5 million Russians who opposed communism left Russia; one million Armenians fled Turkey between 1915 and 1923 to escape persecution and genocide. Following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, two million Chinese fled to Taiwan and Hong Kong; and the world’s largest population transfer in history occurred in 1947 when 18 million Hindus from Pakistan and Muslims from India were moved between the newly created countries of Pakistan and India. Between 1946 and 1949, one million Jewish survivors of the Holocaust moved to Israel from Europe, while one million Jewish refugees fled to Israel from Arab states in the Middle East. Finally, approximately 3.7 million East Germans fled to West Germany between 1945 and 1961, when the Berlin Wall was constructed. The descendants of these refugees wished to shed their refugee identity both legally and socially, as soon as possible. Socially, they integrated into the societies of their residence; legally, the “Refugee Convention” introduced the “Cessation Cause”, explaining when a refugee is no longer a refugee. According to the Cessation Clause, changes in the personal circumstances of a refugee, namely, if the refugee willingly obtained a passport or residency in another state, he/she is no longer “refugees”. Following the cessation clause, the Palestinian descendent of the 1948 refugees are not refugees. So why do they insist on their “refugee status”? During the past 66 years, the number of the descendants of the original 1948 refugees grew to over five million! This is due to the fact that the Palestinian community population growth rate is among the highest in the world2. Recently, the issue of the Palestinian refugees has gained center stage in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The trigger was Israel’s demand that PA (the Palestinian Authority) recognizes Israel as a Jewish State. The implication of such acknowledgment is the complete renunciation of the “right of return” for the five million Palestinians holding a UN refugee ID card. PA immediately rejected this demand reiterating its adherence to the principle that the five million refugees’ right of return is not negotiable. This dispute has been lingering for over six decades and it does not seem to lose its bite. The recent controversy showed once again that the most contentious issue in the protracted Israel-Palestinian conflict is the issue of the refugees. Historical Background In 1948, following the first major Israeli-Arab War, about 800,000 Palestinians fled their homes in Palestine, and settled in neighboring Arab countries. In the absence of the soon-to-be-formed UNHCR (formed in 1951), and in recognition of the important role that the UN GA (General Assembly) played in the Israeli-Arab conflict, and its special responsibility to the consequences of the Partition resolution3, GA created UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Work Agency) for the Palestinian refugees4. The agency’s mission included two tasks: first, providing short-term humanitarian assistance (shelter, food, medical care) to the refugees, and second, to work toward a durable, final solution to the refugee problem. Both the first and the second tasks have been achieved and completed during the 1950s, and the 1960s, when all the 1948 refugees have been settled in permanent homes in the countries of their residence and most of them even became citizens 2 Palestinian population growth is 1.88% per year (2013). According to UNDP, Arab Human Development Report (2010), “The population of the Arab countries nearly tripled between 1970 and 2010, climbing from 128 million to 359 million. According to the medium variant projection, the Arab Region will have 598 million inhabitants by 2050, increasing by two-thirds or 239 million more people than in 2010”. 3 The Partition Plan and UNSCOP (the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine), created on May 15, 1947. 4 UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide emergency aid to the Palestinian refugees. It has been in existence ever since. 810 A REFUGEE AS A STATUS SYMBOL: THE CASE OF THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEES of these countries. However, due to political considerations, UNRWA’s ad hoc humanitarian mission was not terminated, and UNRWA has been continuing to provide social services to the descendants of the 1948 refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza. UNRWA also has been continuously issuing refugee ID cards to every Palestinian, declaring that he/she is a descendent of the 1948 refugees UNRWA does not vet its clients; traditionally, a personal statement was accepted as a fact. This unique scheme not practiced by UNHCR, or any of the UN agencies, was initiated by URWA in 1948, as a bureaucratic tool to distinguish between eligible bone fide refugees to local, non-refugees residence. In 2014, the second, third and now forth generations of the descendants of the 1948 refugees continue to apply, and to receive, a Palestinian ID card. While the new bearers of the refugee ID cards never fled their homes, never experience a threat to their lives, and are settled in the countries of their residence, they define themselves and are defined by UNRWA as refugees. UNRWA’s list has been growing exponentially and now stands at over five million people, who claim that they are bone fide Palestinian refugees entitled to the “Right of Return”. This anomaly is feeding the Palestinian refugees narrative and is being fed by it. It is a psychological and sociological phenomenon that transcends the financial factor and the tentative right for monitory compensations for the descendants of the 1948 refugees. These refugee ID cards became a quasi-identity card, an advantage, and a status symbol, that parents and grandparents bequest to their children and grandchildren. Being a Palestinian refugee has become a social status, a birth right that newborn Palestinians are awarded upon birth. The Uniqueness of the Palestinian Refugee Issue Table 1 General View No. of clients No. of countries No. of employees Budget (2014) UNRWA 5 million* 5 22,000 $1,277 (bl.)** UNHCR 34 million 125 7,685 $ 5,335 (bl.) Notes. * Only about 3 million receive services; ** including $ 290 million special fund or Syrian refugees. The prolonged Palestinian refugee problem is unique for two main reasons: The issue has factual, legal, and tangible aspects, and non-tangible, cognitive-emotional, psychological aspects. The factual-legal aspects concern mainly the legal “right of return” of the descendants of the 800,000 Palestinians who fled the Israel-Arab war in 1948. The 1951 Refugee Convention does not recognize settled persons, citizens of a third country as refugees. The Palestinian refugee ID card has no legal status.
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